Forest land encroachers in Himachal Pradesh to face ED action: HC

Vast tracts of forest land have been encroached upon by people for farming in Himachal Pradesh, but the state government has not acted against them, observed the Himachal Pradesh high court on Monday.Anand Bodh | TNN | August 31, 2016, 13:00 IST

SHIMLA: Vast tracts of forest land have been encroached upon by people for farming in Himachal Pradesh, but the state government has not acted against them, observed the Himachal Pradesh high court on Monday.

During the hearing of a case, the division bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Thakur directed Enforcement Directorate, New Delhi, to register cases against such encroachers in three months. The court also found during the hearing that the encroachers had grown fruit-bearing trees on the forest land, amassed ill-gotten money, and engaged in money laundering. In a judgment, the court observed that the state government had not made sincere efforts to prevent and evict persons who had encroached upon the forest land. The action has been initiated primarily against persons who had given affidavits admitting to encroaching on forest land, the HC added.

Court said there were large tracts of forests which had not been demarcated to date, and the state government started taking steps only after it intervened. It also directed the state government to provide necessary details of the persons who have encroached upon more than 10 bighas of forest land and have indulged in money laundering within four weeks to the director of Enforcement Directorate to enable him to register cases against them. The court made it clear that it would be open for the ED director to confiscate or forfeit the property of persons who have encroached upon more than 10 bighas of forest land under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.